


My Heart Melts Like the Snow

by enbyboiwonder



Series: Part of Your World [1]
Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Merman Jesse, Pre-Canon, Tim Speedle has ADHD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24446371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyboiwonder/pseuds/enbyboiwonder
Summary: Jesse stares down at the fuzzy knit scarf in soft gold-green in his hands, his expression faintly bemused, if nonplussed.  "There's no way she knows, is there?  Your mother knit me a scarf the same color as my scales."
Relationships: Jesse Cardoza/Tim Speedle
Series: Part of Your World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765588
Kudos: 4





	My Heart Melts Like the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> It's been hot as fuck in Texas lately, and I wish it were cold, so here's this. The image of Jesse, so used to the warm waters of the Gulf and the tropical clime of Miami, bundled up in jackets and a hat and gloves and Tim's scarf against the cold and snow in New York was just too adorable to resist.
> 
> Title from [Bells of New York City](https://youtu.be/Q39L9WfSLC4) by Josh Groban.

Jesse's sitting on the couch when he finds him, staring at a fuzzy knit scarf in soft gold-green in his hands, his expression faintly bemused, if nonplussed. His mother's handiwork, if Tim had to hazard a guess.

"There's no way she knows, is there?" Jesse asks, sotto voce, when he takes a seat next to him.

"Knows what?"

"Your mother knit me a scarf the same color as my scales."

Tim considers the scarf, remembering Jesse's sinuous tail, how the iridescent jade-green scales would gleam gold in the summer sun, the way he always tries to nudge Jesse toward buying green shirts, the way it complements his warm golden skin. "It's a good color on you."

Jesse's expression softens, and he reaches up to wind the scarf around Tim's neck. "Looks better on you," he says, then tugs him down to press a kiss to his forehead before letting go of it.

Flushing under the attention and the warm knit, Tim tugs the scarf looser, free of his face. He scrunches the ends in his hands, feeling the fleece-soft yarn bunch under his palms.

"By the way," Jesse continues airily, "I'm stealing your scarf. Out of the goodness of my heart, I'll let you keep this one, though."

Tim can't help but return his husband's grin, looking up to meet his dark eyes shining with mirth. "I love you," he says.

"I love you, too."

Jesse starts to lean in, but before he can kiss him, they're startled apart by a cry of "Gross!"

"Joshua," their mother scolds. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"What, it's gross when you and dad kiss, too," Josh grumbles mulishly into his scarf, half to himself.

"Anything's weird if you think about it long enough," Tim says understandingly.

His brother stares at him blankly. He almost looks like a mini Michelin Man, standing there like that; Ma has him bundled up nearly as much as that kid in A Christmas Story. "No thanks," he says finally, and heads past them for the front door.

Ma watches fondly from the doorway for a moment before following after. "We're building a snowman, if you boys wanna join," she says.

"We will in a moment," Jesse tells her, before turning a bemused expression on Tim, who's started unwinding his scarf so he can do it up properly again.

He gets mixed up with the long ends of the scarf and decides to just pull it off over his head, the yarn sparking with static electricity as it slides over his hair. "What, I don't care," he says, smoothing his hair down. "He's like five, of course he thinks kissing's gross. He probably looks away when people kiss in movies. And even things that aren't weird really do seem weird if you think about them long enough. I would know; I do enough of it." He frowns suddenly, looking up at the ceiling as he counts it out on his fingers. Josh was born in '86, and it's… "He's gonna be _nine_ after Christmas," he says disbelievingly. "Geez, I feel old."

Jesse watches him with soft amusement. "You don't know how old your brother is?"

"Keeping track of ages is difficult."

"At least mine's easy."

"Not really," he says, and Jesse quirks an eyebrow. "My age is news to me every time I remember it, which means yours is, too."

Chuckling, his husband leans in and steals the kiss he couldn't earlier before Tim can start to wind the scarf around his face. "I love you."

It's been months since they first said it to each other, but he still doesn't quite know what to do with himself or the warm feeling that blooms beneath his rib cage whenever Jesse says those words. Standing, he finishes doing up his scarf. The fuzzy yarn doesn't tickle his nose as much as he thought it would. "Love you too," he murmurs into the folds of it, and then he turns and steps over to the armchair over the back of which they've draped the rest of their winter gear.

When he feels Jesse come up behind him as he's shrugging on his coat, he grabs his old blue- and brown-striped scarf and watches Jesse first pull on his hat, tugging it down over his ears, then turn up the hood of his light jacket and zip it up all the way. Tim loops the scarf around Jesse's neck and bundles him snugly up in it, glancing up to meet his husband's affectionate gaze as he smooths down the ends. Jesse takes his hand in his and gives a gentle squeeze.

Even if he doesn't quite know what to do with them, he finds more and more that he likes the warm, fuzzy feelings that Jesse always seems to know just how to stir in him. His eyes linger for a moment as Jesse turns away to don his winter coat before he blinks back to himself and digs his hat and gloves out of his coat pockets.

He has the feeling that he'll have a long time to figure it out.


End file.
